Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Robert Earl

Education: Graduated from University of Surrey with honors degree in Hotel and
Catering Management 1979

Introduction

Robert, Earl, chief executive officer,
Planet Hollywood.

Robert Earl founded Planet Hollywood in
1991. Earl also is co-chairman of BHM Gaming Opportunities, the owner of the
former Alladdin Casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Planet Hollywood owns a
global chain of 20 show-business-themed restaurants located primarily in
tourist hot spots.

Early Career Path

In 1977, Mr. Earl founded President Entertainment,
a company that developed theme restaurants. Under Mr. Earl's leadership, over
the next ten years, President Entertainment grew to a $120 million enterprise.
In 1987, Mr. Earl sold President Entertainment to Pleasurama PLC ('Pleasurama')
and joined the Pleasurama management team, where he assumed responsibility for
the management of another theme restaurant, Hard Rock Cafe PLC ('Hard Rock
Cafe'). During his five years in charge of Hard Rock Cafe, Mr. Earl pioneered
its expansion from seven to twenty-two units while substantially increasing its
profitability. In 1993, Mr. Earl resigned from Hard Rock Cafe to concentrate
full time on running Planet Hollywood. He serves as Chairman of ECE, S.A. de
C.V. Since November 1998, Mr. Earl has been Chairman of the board of directors
of Planet Hollywood. He served as Co-Chairman and Director of OpBiz, a subsidiary
of Bh Re Llc until January 2009. He has been Director of BUCA, Inc. since
September 2008. He has been a Director of Planet Hollywood International Inc.
since 1991. Mr. Earl served as Executive Director of SMI Corp. Ltd. (formerly
known as Star East Holdings Ltd.) since November, 2000. Mr. Earl’s
contributions to the restaurant industry have been acknowledged through many
awards and accolades including the very prestigious Time Magazine’s 'The most
influential People in America 'in 1997.

Birth of Planet Hollywood

Mr. Robert Ian Earl opened his first Planet
Hollywood restaurant with partners like Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone and
Arnold Schwarzenegger in New York 1991. This was followed with the new opening
in locations across the world including London's West End, Kuwait, Cancun in
Mexico and Las Vegas. He has over 31years experience in the restaurant
industry. Mr Robert Earl wants to bring theme restaurants to "another
level". Allowing customers to immerse in the feel of being in
Hollywood.

Bankruptcy

In 1999, Planet Hollywood went bankrupt and
numerous restaurants were closed down. They only kept going in a few of its
original locations with the help of new investors from Saudi Arabia who made a
relatively modest investment in the company. After the crisis faced, they
learned:

Word-of-mouth
is crucial. Word-of-mouth is more important than advertising and media
exposure when it comes to eating out.

The
theme should be tied to the core product. Food, rather than an abstract
notion of ‘Hollywood’, should have been the theme.

However, in 2001, Planet Hollywood filed for
bankruptcy again. This round was due to the downturn in in tourism after
the terrorist attack. The company said it filed for Chapter 11
reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, and
such measures will enable all restaurants to stay open for business. Through
that, Planet Hollywood stressed it was back on the road to profitability
focusing on core restaurants in major tourist locations, but reluctance in
tourist travel has proved costly.

But Mr. Earl was determined to eradicate the sting
of that collapse, which was memorialized in headlines like “Rocky K-O’d” and
“Arnold Terminated.” The name Planet Hollywood may still be shorthand for a
cultural and financial bubble. But Mr. Earl, who lost more than $1 billion on
the way down, has managed to retain control of the company, now a much slimmer,
privately held chain of a dozen or so restaurants.

The real embodiment of his redemption, however, is
taking shape in the hulking form of a shiny new Planet Hollywood Casino and
Resort on the site of the old Aladdin casino in the middle of the Las Vegas
Strip.

The casino’s official opening is slated for the
weekend of Nov. 16. Mr. Earl is overseeing final renovations that include,
among the 2,500 rooms, penthouses named after celebrities who will occupy their
namesake lairs while in town, but which the rest of us can inhabit for as
little as $599 a night.

“I can’t abide by failure,” Mr. Earl, 56, who is
known among his friends and employees for his high energy and boldly hued
shirts and socks, said in an interview.

Mr. Earl also plans to announce a new roster of
celebrities, including Pete Sampras and Roger Clemens, who will
be affiliated with the casino and hotel and serve as its ambassadors. The idea
is similar to one used in the original Planet Hollywood, where a lineup of 32
celebrities received stakes in the project, but this time, he said,
only Bruce Willis and Mr. Stallone are co-investors. “I’ve been
strongly trying to communicate to everyone that ‘this is not your old Planet,’
” Mr. Earl said.